[117291] in Cypherpunks
Re: Project: Hardening Crypto Against Big Brother
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim May)
Mon Aug 30 22:59:23 1999
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In-Reply-To: <19990831005816.SOLZ15925@alaptop.hotwired.com>
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Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 19:40:55 -0700
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Reply-To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
At 5:55 PM -0700 1999-08-30, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>Perhaps useless ancedote: I just carried some waterford crystal goblets
>back from Ireland through n-number of airport security checkpoints. They
>seemed pretty darn opaque on the xray screens.
>
>So just buy a lot of crystal and surround yerself...
Many things are good absorbers of x-rays, relatively speaking.
Crystal, lead-lined film bags, etc.
However, none of of these items will easily hide the outline of a modern
pistol, for example. A Glock, to pick a common example, will still stand
out when placed in a lead-lined film bag. (The lead is not thick enough to
be completely opaque, and there is evidence they simply crank the tube
power up a notch to make even lead-lined pouches effectively transparent.
Not good for film, obviously.)
And not even a taken-down Glock 27 can be hidden inside Wateford or
Swarofski crytal.
Best bet, as always, is the inside job. The woman in the office next to
mine was killed along with everyone else onboard when her PSA jet was taken
down by an airport mechanic who trivially got his gun on board and then
entered the cockpit and shot both the pilot and copilot. The jet augured in
to a hillside near San Luis Obispo from its cruising altitude of 40,000
feet.
--Tim May
Don't tread on me.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
